Ghost Hunt Alphabet Drabbles
by Tsuki No Shuurai
Summary: A bunch of drabbles, alphabet themed. Pairings and genres subject to change. Latest: Effrontery. A.K.A Complete and Utter Nonsense.
1. Ancient

**Ancient**

_Adjective: of or in a time long past_

What does it take to heal ancient wrongs?

For a long time, Lin had no idea whatsoever, and was perfectly content to carry on hating the Japanese people as a whole for the rest of his life.

He could come up with a variety of reasons to justify his prejudice, from the fact that so many Japanese were ignorant to what their ancestors had done, to his great-grandfather's death in the war, to the fact that even with the forbidding barrier of silence that he kept about him, they were still as quick as he was when it came to discrimination. _Foreigner, _they seemed to whisper, twining it into their words and eyes and gestures. _You don't belong here. _

But this girl—this Japanese schoolgirl, sixteen years of age—in a way, she knew better than he did what had happened in ancient past, not because of historical statistics or a sense of superiority, but with an acute, sensitive view similar to Gene's, as though she felt the pain of the world and would do anything to try and stop it.

And it was impossible to hate her.


	2. Bishop

**Bishop**

_Noun: Chess--_ _one of two pieces of the same color that may be moved any unobstructed distance diagonally, one on white squares and the other on black._

Houshou had no idea why he'd let her bully him into this.

He stared, frustrated, at the chess board before him. He was backed into a corner, he saw—unless he moved his queen to block Ayako's rook, she would take his king and win. _Again. _On Ayako's side of the board, there was a neat line of Houshou's black pieces, all of which she had taken during the course of the game: a knight, several pawns, a rook, and both of his bishops. Ayako's white pieces remained relatively untouched; he had taken a knight and a rook, but the rest were all pawns.

"Damn it," he growled, and moved the queen into place. "Who did you learn from? Lin? Naru-chan?"

"Both beaten you, have they?" She swiped his queen neatly off the board. "You're not supposed to talk during the match, you know. Maybe if you concentrated a little more and talked a little less…."

"I could tell you the same thing." He moved his remaining knight to try and attack the rook.

She smirked and moved a pawn. A _pawn. _She was going to win with a pawn? "Make your move," she said with a small smile.

He scrutinized the board for a moment, then killed her rook. "Gotcha," he said, allowing a msile to creep over his own face.

The next thing he knew, his king had been taken by the bishop that she had had waiting—that, he realized, he had foolishly removed his knight from its path, thereby leaving his king open to attack.

"I win again," Ayako declared. "Oh, come, come, man. Your pride cant be so very injured."

"It is," he moaned. "I didn't beat you, not once."

Ayako stood and stretched. "It's not my problem," she said.

He stayed on the couch as she went to leave the room. _At least nobody had to witness this, _he thought.

"Oh, and Houshou?"

He looked up at the sound of his given name.

"What?"

Ayako's grin was pure evil.

"I learned to play from John," she said, and left the room. "And he's good at it."

_Wait—John?_

_**John **__plays chess?_

Houshou sighed.

_Maybe I should take lessons……_

**A/N—I'm not at all sure of the quality of this particular drabble, sorry. I was sick and I'd just lost three games of chess in a row to my brother……oh well….**

**To those of you who are waiting for an update on the Haunted Stage: In good time XD. I'm a little ways through the next update, but I'm stalled at the middle of the chapter, so.... *shrugs***

**Thanks to Kyia Star, Bob Pharrot, Kay, and june bug for reviwing "Ancient" XD You all rock!**


	3. Care

**Care**

_v. to make provision for, to look out for, to be concerned or solicitous._

"Mai?"

The part-timer in question raised her head at the sound of his voice, and blinked to clear the sleep from her eyes. She winced a little at the sore, throbbing pain behind her left eye and tried to concentrate through the headache.

"Naru? What is it?" she asked, aware of his sharp gaze on her, as well as his disapproval.

"Go and get me some tea."

Of course, she should have known. Right at the moment, though, she was too tired to care. Her head was still pounding. As she rose from her desk, she gripped the back of her office chair to keep from falling; if Naru noticed, he said nothing as she made her way over to the kitchenette. She heard the click of his office door closing as she put the kettle on. She shivered as she stood there; even in her thick sweater, she couldn't get warm. _I should go and turn up the thermostat, _she thought, as she slid to the tiled floor, leaning her head against the sink cupboards. Her headache had progressed to something similar to jackhammers pounding in her temples. _I can't get sick. Not right now. I have a Geometry exam and a whole mountain of paperwork to finish sorting. _

"Taniyama-san?"

She raised her head again and squinted at Naru's full-time assistant, standing in the doorway of the kitchenette. "Eh? I was just getting tea," she said, using the edge of the counter to stand. She smiled shakily at Lin. "Did you want anything?" She winced as her head surged.

Lin surveyed her a moment more, then shook his head. "You should go sit down," he told her. "I'll get that," he said when she reached for the kettle as it whistled.

Mai accepted the help as graciously as she could under the circumstances and sank back to the floor. Her legs felt heavy, and she was able to lean her head against her arm and closed her eyes against the light, which did nothing for the pounding in her head…..

She sat like that for awhile, aware only of her own breathing, until she felt a hand shake her shoulder. Groggily, she lifted her head to find Lin, crouched down beside her, a bottle of acetaminophen and a glass of water in his hands. Wordlessly, he shook two pills into his palm and offered them to her; she took them, aware that protesting at this point was probably futile, and silently gulped them down. Her head continued to throb, and she shivered.

Lin placed his hand, quite gently, on her forehead. "You're feverish and sweating," he told her. "How long has this been going on?"

Mai tried to concentrate on his words. "Umm….I've had a bit of a headache all day, but I'm going to be fine, really. I'm just…coming down with a bit of a cold or something…"

Lin ignored that statement. "You should go home."

Mai got unsteadily to her feet. "I'll be fine," she said, clutching the counter's edge. "Really."

She only took a few steps before the weakness in her knees forced her to reconsider. Thankfully, Lin caught her before she hit the ground, lopping an arm around her face and holding her carefully upright. Ignoring her feeble protests, he helped her over to the couch and let her sink into the cushions. It took her a moment to get her bearings after that, and by the time she looked over at him again, the older assistant had the phone and was dialing.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, aware of how pathetic she sounded.

"Calling Matsuzaki-san," he replied. "I can't exactly take you home and leave you in this state, can I?" He pressed the phone to his ear for a moment, and then said, "Matsuzaki-san? This is Lin, from SPR. Yes. No, actually, I wondered if you could come and pick Taniyama-san up in a moment? She's not feeling very well." He was silent for a few moments as Ayako said something Mai couldn't make out. "That would be ideal. Yes. Thank you, Matsuzaki-san. Konnichawa." He hung up, placing the phone back in its cradle with a gentle click. Mai allowed her eyes to slip shut.

A moment later, she felt something warm settle over her shoulders and opened her eyes to find Lin's suit jacket draped over her. "Thanks," she murmured, pulling the jacket closer around her.

When Naru next walked out of his office, he was greeted by the sight of Mai curled asleep on the couch, her face flushed, Lin's jacket around her. Lin himself sat beside her, transcribing a set of handwritten notes form a recent case. The look he gave Naru when he glanced up from his laptop's screen dared his young charge to say a word about the whole affair.

Naru went right ahead and said it anyway.

"She must be really, really sick." He sighed. "I don't suppose you'll leave her to fetch me a cup of tea?"

Lin raised an eyebrow. "I _am _working. Go get it yourself."

"Typical," Naru muttered darkly as he headed back to his office.

**A Few Days Later….**

"Hey, Lin-san. How's it going?"

Lin glanced up from his computer monitor as Mai set his tea down beside him. She looked much better this morning, still a little pale, but the life was back in her eyes. "Fine, Taniyama-san. You're feeling better, I trust?"

"Yeah, actually. I still managed to pass my test, even, thanks to Yasuhara-san. And it really helped to have Ayako staying with me while I was sick—Bou-san and John stopped by to help with dinner and cheer me up a few nights ago—yeah, basically. I'm feeling a lot better." Her smile was wide and genuine; Lin hadn't realized before how much he had missed it for the last few days. He felt the corners of his own lips twitch upward—he had also forgotten how infectious her good mood was.

She was still talking. "Really, I can't thank any of you enough for helping out. I know it was a nuisance…."

"Taniyama-san." He turned to look her in the eye. "It was nothing."

"Oh, but it was. I—"

"Mai." He hadn't meant to use her first name, and informally at that, but he had her attention now. "We care about you," he told her.

Her mouth dropped open, but she didn't speak. Instead, she took a deep breath. Lin steeled himself, expecting her to hug him or break down crying, but no—she found her voice and said, quietly, "Really?

"Really," he assured her.

She did hug him then, but gently, and Lin found he didn't really mind that much, anyhow. "Thank you," she whispered. "For everything."

"I hate to interrupt this charming moment," came Naru's dry voice from the open office door. Mai instantly let go of Lin, her face flushing pink. "Still, now that Mai's back, I'd like a decent cup of tea. Which is more than I've had the last few days."

"That's his way of saying he was worried, too," Lin told her, once Naru was safely out of earshot.

She rolled her eyes. "You could've fooled me."

Being cared for felt good, Mai thought as she left, smiling at Naru's closed office door.

**A/N—OMG, there is no excuse for this fic *buries head in hands* Umm….the over-fluffy nature of this piece can be attributed to the fact that I wrote while battling a fever and a headache…yeah….take the pen away next time, somebody!**

**So, just hints at pairings for this fic—I more wanted to showcase how the whole of SPR pitch in when Mai needs their help. If it is anything, it's probably Lin/Mai, although it could be Naru/Mai, as well….**

**Thanks to Kay, Kyia Star, and Bob Pharrot for reviewing on B!**

**Next up, D…. for Detectives, the ceremonial Ghost Hunt/Death Note crossover drabble. Because I have to combine my obsessions at some point XD.**


	4. Dance

**Dance**

Mai had known from the beginning that she hadn't wanted to attend Namikawa-san's formal dinner and dance. She had tried to back out early on, but the fact that she had been a prominent help in the investigation meant that she couldn't _not _attend, according to Naru. Namikawa-san had asked after her especially, and as Naru went on to elaborate, when one's client was as wealthy as Namikawa Reiji-san was, it was best to oblige that client's wishes when it came to, say, formal thank you's.

"But….I don't have anything to wear!" she'd protested, knowing that it was a stupid excuse. "I'd really rather stay here with Kasai-san and Taka-san."

Naru flipped a page in his file—he obviously wasn't paying much attention to her, which stung. _I thought things might get better between us after I confessed and he got to think of it for awhile, _she thought, a little forlornly. _But he seems as distant as ever. _

"Matsuzaki-san is going to take you shopping this evening, I believe," he said, rather vaguely, his mind obviously elsewhere.

"Naru! I said I don't want to—" she began again.

Naru glanced at her over his file. "You're going," he said levelly, in his I'm-the-boss-so-listen-up tone, "and I don't want to hear anything else about it." He shut the file with a snap. "At your earliest convenience, Taniyama-san," he called over his shoulder, "I would like tea. In my office." The door clicked shut behind him, leaving Mai fuming at the use of her surname and honorific, which he only used when he was mocking her. _He hasn't changed at all! _She thought as she brewed his tea. _Then again, he wouldn't be Naru if he didn't get this way, would he?_

So, she had sighed and given up.

Which was how she had ended up here tonight, watching couples waltz across the dance floor. And feeling clumsy and out of place. She had managed so far not to spill anything or offend anyone too important—she hoped—and she supposed she should have been grateful for that.

It was hard to be grateful, however, when Naru was at this very moment dancing gracefully—if with a slightly bored expression—with a dark haired beauty in a wine-colored velvet gown who had been introduced to them as Ootori Naoko, nice to Ootori-san, one of the business affiliates that they had been introduced to along with Namikawa-san's companions from the Yotsuba company. His youngest son was there, as well—Namikawa-san had introduced Mai to him over dinner. His name was Kyouya, and they had exchanged only a few pleasantries before Mai had been whisked away by Ayako to meet a distant friend of her father's who was there—he had seemed charming enough, but he wasn't really the sort of person Mai wanted to know any better—he seemed to share her opinion, because he didn't approach her after that, even when the dancing began. She preferred it that way—she wasn't a great dancer at the best of times, and the sight of Naru dancing with the beautiful girl was certainly enough to throw off her concentration.

_I knew this was a bad idea, _she thought with an inward sigh. _I don't feel comfortable here at all. _During the course of the evening, she had lost track of the other members of her party, and decided that she would just sit it out in this corner, and wait until Naru decided they could leave. _He doesn't even like this sort of thing, _she groused to herself, _So why's he sticking around this evening?_

"Eh, Mai-chan? Why're you sitting here all on your own?"

Mai tore her eyes away from Naru as he bowed to the Ootori girl as the song ended, and looked up at Bou-san with as much of a smile as she could muster. "I don't really dance," she told the monk.

He followed the direction of her gaze. _I wager you would dance if a certain person would open his eyes and ask you to, _he thought, frowning. Mai looked far too pretty tonight to sit here in this darkened corner—Ayako had dressed her quite nicely, in a simple yellow taffeta dress that flattered her perfectly; the color brought out the warm, rich tones in her eyes and hair, and if she had been really smiling, there would've been no keeping the boys away from her. As it was, her smile was insincere and trembled around the edges—she looked as though she might cry as she threw yet another glance at Naru, biting her lip as he accepted the Ootori girl's hand—again!--for the next dance.

The monk took a split second to make his decision. He reached out and took Mai's hand, tugging her to her feet before she could even blink.

"Eh? Bou-san?"

"Care to dance with me, Mai-chan?" he asked, bowing a little. "It's not that hard," he added as she opened her mouth. "You're in good hands now. All you have to do is follow my lead." He guided her out onto the dance floor, ignoring her weak protests. At first, she was stiff and she stumbled over the first step; he tightened his hand on hers, helping her regain her balance, and winked at her.

"Really," he said. "Trust me—it's easy once you get into the rhythm. Cant you hear it?" He started to count the steps softly under his breath, and after a moment, he heard her join in, her voice small and soft in the swell of the music. They twirled, spun, and stepped, Bou-san leading and correcting, Mai following along as best she could. She wasn't nearly so bad at this as she thought, in the monk's opinion—she was falling into the dance easily now, and a genuine smile spread across her face as she beamed up at him. _There. Now that's more like the Mai-chan I know. _

"Thanks," she said, quietly.

"Eh, it's nothing."

The song ended and Mai gathered up her courage, turning towards where Naru was bowing and releasing the Ootori girl's hand. _I can do this, _she told herself firmly. _I can!_

She approached him carefully as the Ootori girl accepted the hand of one of the other businessmen. "Um…Naru—"

Masako, with her typical excellent—_terrible!_--timing, chose this moment to pounce. She came up on Naru's other side, looking small and demure even in her simple ball gown. "Naru, can I have this next dance?" she asked, directing a small smile at Mai, who glared right back. The medium was sometimes her friend, but she hated it when she did this. _Well, it's not like he has to accept, _she told herself. _She cant blackmail him any more now that we all know about who he really is. _

Naru looked at the two of them, then with a small, almost apologetic shrug in Mai's direction, he took Masako's hand. "As you wish, Hara-san."

Mai looked down at her hands and tried to compose herself. _Why? _She thought, furiously. _Why her and not me? Why do you always do this? _She took a deep breath to keep herself from crying in frustration, and turned back to make her way back to her corner. _I'll just sit this out, _she thought. _It should be over soon, anyway._

Her plans were foiled once more by the appearance of Bou-san, this time with Ayako and Lin-san in tow. Neither of whom, Mai noticed with the smallest amount of amusement, looked very happy about it, although she was well aware of what Ayako was up to with that exterior. Lin just looked bored, as though none of this was really to his interest in the least—which, Mai realized, was probably true. He had never much liked these sorts of functions either.

"Where are you going?" Ayako demanded. "Come dance with this idiot so that I don't have to, will you?"

Bou-san rolled his eyes. "I'm not that bad of a dancer, Ayako. You might even enjoy it a little. Besides, Mai's already danced with me once tonight. I wouldn't want to keep her from her fan club." He winked.

Ayako smacked his arm. "Lolicon," she said.

"I am not. Besides, what does that make you? I saw you dancing with that Kyouya, and he's seventeen if he's a day!"

_Is that jealousy, Bou-san? _ Mai thought, smiling a little at the sight of the monk and the miko squabbling. _When are they just going to get over it and admit that they have feelings for each other? _

"Taniyama-san?"

Mai blinked and tore her gaze away from Ayako and Bou-san's lover's quarrel to look over at Lin. _I'm surprised he hasn't dematerialized into the shadows or something, like he'd normally do someplace like this. _She had seen firsthand that the older assistant could disappear quickly and quietly if he wanted to—surely, if she had been able to pull it off, _she _might have done so already. _I would have been able to avoid the sight of Naru dancing with all those other girls, certainly. _"What is it, Lin-san?" she said, doing her best to keep her eyes away from Naru and Masako taking their place in the dance as the opening notes began to play.

"Would you care to dance?"

The question was unexpected enough that it took her a second to really process it. _Wha—wait, this is Lin-san, right? Not some doppelganger that's gone and taken his place? _"Y-yes," she said after a moment's hesitation. She looked up at the Chinese man, trying to read his expression. _What prompted this? _ She thought as he took her hand and swept her in among the other couples, leaving Bou-san and Ayako to partner off with one another. _Gah, I'll never hear the end of this from Ayako! I shouldn't have threatened to tell Bou-san about that time she went to see his concert a few weeks ago…_

She glanced up at Lin-san again—so far, he hadn't made any sort of attempt at conversation, which suited her just fine; she had to concentrate to get the steps right, although he led with an admirable grace that stemmed from long practice. That made sense—he had always been economical and graceful in his movements. She remembered how she had noticed that when they first met, in spite of the terrifying circumstances—remembered how he had easily pushed her out of the way of the falling shelves, remembered the fear that had coursed through her when she realized what she had done. _You know, if I had never knocked down that shelf, I would never have worked for SPR. _It was an odd thought; Shibuya Psychic Research and its Irregulars had become such an integral part of her life since then.

"What are you thinking of?" Lin asked softly, and Mai snapped back to reality, offering the older assistant a slight smile.

"Nothing much," she said. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or anything…."

"Not at all." They waltzed a moment more in companionable silence. Mai marveled at how far she'd come with Lin since their first—extremely unfortunate—meeting. There was a time when he wouldn't have even really noticed her in the room, much less dance with her and offer polite conversation. Now, he seemed to consider her a friend—at least, Mai had gotten to see a far more relaxed side of him that she hadn't suspected existed before; he really had far more ease with people than he let on most of the time.

"You seem distracted." It wasn't a question, and Mai was fairly sure he knew what was going on between her and Naru—either Bou-san had told him, or he had figured it out on his own. Both of which were perfectly plausible explanations.

_Or maybe he just wanted to dance with you, _a traitorous voice in her head whispered.

"Do I? Sorry. This really isn't my type of gathering," she explained, careful not to raise her voice too much and risk offending their hosts. Lin, she knew, would understand about this at least.

"Nor mine, really," he said, and left it at that.

There was a moment more of silence, then Mai said, "I don't even know why Namikawa-san asked me to come here anyway." _To watch Naru dance with other girls and ignore me entirely. _"I didn't do any more than I normally would for the case."

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think that? We would not have solved this case without your visions. And you have something that some of our number unfortunately lack—empathy for other human beings. That girl was wild and uncontrolled—she could easily have gone the same way as Sakauchi-san did without your interference."

Mai thought about it a moment. _He's right, _she realized, thinking back to the cause and root of the phenomena that had been occurring at Namikawa-san's brother's lavish home—his daughter, the sixteen year old Emiko. The girl held quite a bit of resentment against her father, who had just recently divorced her mother and relocated her from Massachusetts, where she had lived most of her life, to Japan—she also happened to be a—quite powerful, though yet untapped—summoner of spirits. Mai had not only figured out what she was up to, but managed to talk the girl down from her righteous rage and prevent her from harming her father and the woman he had been seeing. The case had ended quietly, with all of the phenomena fading with Emiko's release of the spirits that she had been summoning for her vengeful purposes. The last time Mai had seen the girl, her mother had been arranging to have her come and visit her in the States for a few months—Naru had contacted Madoka and arranged for one of the American therapists to tutor her in the control and proper usage of her abilities. She had seemed happier, certainly—Mai had never seen her look more than sullen or angry, so it was a good change. _I didn't do that all on my own—some of it was Gene--but I did help a great deal. I don't even want to think about what would've happened if Naru had dealt with her. _

The dance ended, the music fading. Mai waited a moment for Lin to release her hand and fade into the shadows—until it had been a second too long, and couples were splitting up and reforming for the next dance. "Lin-san?"

He blinked, as though returning from some far place in his head, and looked down at her hand, still held in his, almost as though he was surprised by it. "I'm sorry," he said, releasing her hand. "I wasn't paying attention."

"No." _You silly girl, what are you doing? _"I was going to ask if you'd mind dancing the next set with me, too?" _What are you __**saying**__? _

Something lit in his eyes—it added a welcome warmth to his face as his lips turned ever-so-slightly up at the corners, and Mai wondered why he didn't smile more often. It made him look younger, more carefree—she felt her heart skip a beat at the power of it. Before she could blink or move, his hand was once more holding hers, their fingers laced, and they were stepping back out to join the others, swaying in time to the music. This time, neither of them tried to talk all that much—Mai was too struck by her own boldness of a few moments ago and had become quite shy; she couldn't be sure what was going through Lin's head, but his hand was warm against her's, his long fingers curled protectively around her hand, the other hand resting lightly at her waist. She was acutely aware of his proximity; giddily, she wondered when it was, exactly, that she'd begun to consider him her friend—_and maybe more, _the traitorous voice whispered; she ignored it as best she could under the circumstances—she thought it might have been at some point after Suwa, but she couldn't really be sure. The changes between them had come gradually, in between school and work and cases, and now—now, Mai wasn't sure what to think at all, but she had to try to comprehend this, at least. _Maybe it's time to just give myself over to my instincts and trust they'll lead me right. Maybe….maybe I'm trying too hard to control my fate, when there are some aspects of it that simply cant be controlled…._

And this time, when the music faded, Mai felt him tug gently at her hand; after a moment's hesitation, she followed him, silently. No words were needed, she thought, as they made their way out of the crowded hall and into the moonlight outside—no words could speak with the eloquence of what was happening—no words could capture the confused mix of emotions that raced through her blood, turning it hot and impatient in her veins.

She felt his fingers slide gently under her chin and tilt her face up to meet his eyes. He hesitated a moment—there was a questioning in his eyes, and mutely, she nodded, giving her permission.

His lips touched hers softly, gently—then she felt his arms encircle her and pull her closer, and he was kissing her for real, making her pulse skyrocket as she tentatively reciprocated—her own reaction surprised her, because she'd never really thought of him that way before—_My mistake, _she thought dimly as she drowned in this feeling.

It took a moment after they separated for her to get her breath back—she felt odd, elated but off balance—her world had just irrevocably shifted, and regaining her equilibrium wasn't going to be easy.

"How long?" she asked, her voice small in the night.

Lin hesitated a moment. "Since Suwa. Possibly before. You?"

She laughed a little. "Me? I have no idea. I hardly know which way is up right now."

He was smiling properly now—dare she say, a little mischievously? "May I attribute at least part of that to what just happened?"

Mai felt her cheeks heat up a little at the mention of it. "Of course not," she said. "It takes more than being kissed to derail me, you know."

"Is that so?" His lips touched her jaw, sending a rush of emotion through her. She gasped and pushed him a little away.

"Stop it," she told him, her stern tone belied by the smile that she couldn't hide. "You're just as bad as Yasuhara-kun, did you know that?"

Lin seemed a little offended by that. "I hardly think," he said dryly, "that myself and Yasuhara-san are comparable in any such fashion."

Mai shook her head. "Okay, maybe that was uncalled for."

Lin said nothing—he simply pulled her closer to him, cradling her in his arms. She rested her head against his chest and simply stood there, listening to his heart beat.

After awhile, she said, "Probably Naru'll be looking for us. We should go back, I suppose."

"You're right, though I hardly think being slightly inconvenienced is going to do Naru any lasting harm." He let her go, then offered her his hand with a sigh. "Shall we?"

And as she twined her fingers with his, Mai knew that while the future wasn't certain for either of them, she could be sure of one thing.

It would work out right.

**A/N—OMG, this is not at all the little drabble that I envisioned it as. This is almost a whole chapter….oh well. It's done now.**

**Please feel free to criticize this piece. I was kind of trying to play around with the concept of Lin/Mai post-White Heart--after Mai's confessed to Naru and they've left for and returned from Gene's funeral in England. I haven't actually read White Heart—most of these are spoilers that I gathered up, so feel free to point out canonical errors. It'll make me a better writer XD.**

**I don't own Ghost Hunt, Kyouya Ootori, or Namikawa—they belong to Fuyumi Ono, Bisco Hatori, and Tsugumi Ohba/Takeshi Obata respectively.**

**Thanks as always to my reviewers. You guys are awesome!**

**Enjoy!**


	5. Effrontery

**Effrontery**

_Noun: impudence_

"Get back to work, Yasuhara-san."

When Naru used that tone, it generally meant you would do better just to do what he said. Everyone who worked with the young investigator—whether in the office or on cases—knew that; it was not considered very smart to rebel.

"Yes, of course, but first I'm breaking for a bite to eat. Not all of us can run on tea, shochou."

Apparently, however, the latest addition to their team had yet to learn this, and Mai was starting to doubt if he ever would. With an inward sigh, she returned to her stapling, ignoring Yasuhara's impudence and his obvious inability to _just keep his mouth shut._

To be fair, though, she enjoyed being in the office a lot more with Yasuhara around. It meant she had someone to talk to who would give her more than three words in return. Even if she sometimes felt like chucking her stapler at the boy's head when he teased her.

"Your stomach can wait, Yasuhara-san. I'm sure you'll make it through the next thirty minutes."

Yasuhara sighed heavily. "I suppose," he said, sounding rather listless. "Yes, back to work then."

Naru turned to walk away. He made it to his office door before Yasuhara called out again, "Shibuya-san?"

Naru turned, his face carefully controlled to hide his impatience. "Yes, what do you want?" he asked briskly.

"I'm hungry," Yasuhara said, his voice pitched low, almost…. _Seductive_?, "for more than food….Naru-_chan._"

Mai almost stapled over her finger.

Naru stared at the other boy for a moment. Mai expected him to say something snarky, but when she looked up, she saw that Naru was actually at a loss for words. He actually opened his mouth and shut it again, in favor of his trademarked death glare, then turned and went into his office without another word.

His door had been shut behind him about half a second before Mai started to giggle, pressing her hands over her mouth to try and hide her amusement. Yasuhara was grinning, too—with an effort, he donned a sober expression and said, "Oh, dear. Something appears to have upset the boss."

Mai began to laugh properly, and Yasuhara said, quite mournfully, "Eh, Mai-san, it's not a laughing matter. Something tells me that this fated relationship isn't going to work." He sighed. "Or maybe, maybe he's just hiding his true feelings for me for your benefit. After all, he wouldn't want his innocent young part-timer witnessing something too… _passionate, _would he?"

Mai was still laughing when the door opened a second later and Naru stepped out. Ignoring Yasuhara, he glanced at Mai, effectively quieting her giggles.

"Mai, tea," he ordered.

"Of course, Naru." She stood up and headed toward the kitchenette, rolling her eyes once her back was turned. _Brisk as always. Would it kill him, just once, to actually ask nicely?_

"Can we talk about this later, Naru-chan?" Yasuhara purred. "Later, and more…._privately_?"

Having Yasuhara around, Mai decided, was definitely a nice addition to the office.

Even if he was going to end up with a great big tattoo in the shape of stapler on his head.

**A/N—Oh, what can I say? This is probably terribly OOC. Bleach fans will recognize one of Chizuru Honsho's lines given to Osamu-kun—I'm sure she wont mind him borrowing it XD. This is probably set somewhere between Forbidden Games and Bloodstained Labyrinth. If you want to see it as light Yasuhara/Naru go right ahead—after all, it'll be the narcissist who attacks you, not me LOL. Oh, and did I mention that it's really very cracky and was meant to cheer me up more than anything? Yeah. Right. Very.**

**Thanks to Kyia Star, Illegitimi, flamegirl5500, KayKit, WannabeFireFox, and Bob Pharrot for reviewing Dance. You guys rock!**

**Chizuru, you'll get your line right back, okay? Just as soon as Osamu is done with it. I PROMISE. XD.**


End file.
